Pope Benedict XVI...1 year later

Today marks the 1^st anniversary election of Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI. One of the requests in my blog entry asking for topics of discussion asked me to reflect on the first year of the Holy Father’s pontificate. It seems appropriate to reflect on this today.

I think the word that defines the general response regarding the Benedict’s first year as pope is ‘surprise.’ Both the right and left inside and outside the Church had their own preconceived notions as to how Benedict would conduct his pontificate. Those who supported the stern, conservative and strict approach to the faith believed that these characteristics would dominate his pontificate. They envisioned massive reform of the Church and a return to those glory days prior to Vatican II. At the other end of the spectrum, those who opposed Ratzinger’s role in the Curia prior to his election dreaded his papacy in which they felt that the Church would regress in its advancement of the past couple of decades and that more liberal, or in their mind progressive, ideologies would be persecuted or suppressed. Both sides were surprised by Benedict’s papacy to date.

Benedict was seen as "God’s Rottweiler" while he was Prefect for the Doctrine of the Faith. His role was to guard and defend challenges to the faith. This role entails one taking what can be seen as a hostile stance against these challenges. Yet, when elected pope, his role changed. He was now the shepherd of 1.1 billion Catholics. His role is now as the pastoral and spiritual leader of the faithful as well as the Vicar of Christ on earth. He was no longer "God’s Rottweiler" but the keeper and minister of God’s fidelity, gifts, love and obviously God's mercy.

His new role can be seen most clearly in his first encyclical, "Deus Caritas est," which emphasizes love, both erotic and agape love. Possibly an explanation of his own actions in his new role as pope, Benedict says in the introduction of his encyclical, ""I want to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others" (¶1). This could be seen as a good analogy of his new role as Holy Father. Benedict chose to write about and seek to exemplify Christianity's central but so often overlooked themes: divine Love and the way it relates to human loves.

I believe that this isn’t the only surprise in store for the world regarding Benedict XVI. As Prefect, he was only heard when ruling and defending confrontations to the faith. Some always was this as him being the ‘bad cop.’ As pope, however, we see him as the pastor, as the shepherd, as the lover of God’s People, as the leader of a billion Catholics and as the Vicar of Christ. God has called Pope Benedict to be His Love on earth.

posted by: crossman at 19:11 | link | comments |
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